Railway union to begin indefinite strike after negotiation breakdown

[Anchor]

Korean Railway Workers' Union will begin an indefinite general strike starting tomorrow (12.5).

This is because negotiations between labor and management, which took place this afternoon (12.4), ultimately broke down.

We will connect to our reporter on the scene.

Choi Kwang-ho, the negotiations have dragged on, but they were unable to narrow their differences, correct?

[Report]

Yes, just a moment ago, around 9 PM, the union declared the breakdown of negotiations.

The negotiations, which started at 4 PM today, ended after 5 hours.

Choi Myung-ho, the chairman of the railway union who participated in today's negotiations, held a briefing in the press room and announced that the final negotiations had collapsed.

Choi stated that despite the unprecedented situation of a state of emergency, they tried to minimize public inconvenience, but the management ignored their legitimate demands.

The railway union's demands included a 2.5% increase in base salary, resolution of approximately 23.1 billion won in unpaid wages, and the full implementation of a 4-shift, 2-team system.

In particular, the issue related to unpaid wages associated with performance bonuses is complicated by involvement from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, making it difficult to find a solution through labor-management negotiations alone.

With the breakdown in negotiations, the railway union will hold launch ceremonies at five locations nationwide tomorrow and begin a general strike.

There will inevitably be disruptions in operations not only for KTX and regular trains but also for some sections of the metropolitan subway lines 1, 3, and 4, which are managed by Korail.

Even with the deployment of about 10,000 essential maintenance personnel and over 4,500 replacement workers, the workforce will only be at 60% of the usual level.

Accordingly, for the metropolitan subway, operations will be over 90% during rush hours, but at other times, it is expected to be 75% of normal, with KTX at 67% and Saemaeul-ho at 58%.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport expressed regret over the breakdown of negotiations, and Korail announced the suspension of over 220 trains at major stations and on their website, urging passengers to check the operation information in advance.

This has been KBS News' Choi Kwang-ho from the Korail Seoul Headquarters.